1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of adjusting a dilution ratio in a beverage dispenser. More specifically, it relates to a dilution ratio adjusting apparatus adapted for use in a beverage dispenser that fixes a beverage by supplying an appropriate amount of dilution water according to a dilution ratio that is specific to a concentrated syrup, and a method for carrying out the dilution ratio adjusting in a beverage dispenser.
2. Description of the Related Art
A beverage dispenser is configured as a machine which is provided with one or a plurality of dilution water tanks for storing dilution water, a syrup tank or a BIB (Bag-In-Box) for storing concentrated syrup, and a cooling mechanism or the like, and is employed for pouring a beverage into a container such as a paper cup after application thereto a constant and defined dilution, in response to pressing of a press button on the machine. An example thereof is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent publication 2002-285977 (JP-A-2002-285977). A cup beverage dispenser of the JP-A-2002-285977 is configured to be provided with a syrup tank that is set in a cooling box to store concentrated syrup, a cooling section to generate dilution water by cooling tap water or the like, a tube pump for causing the syrup tank to discharge a given amount of concentrated syrup, a mixer for mixing the concentrated syrup supplied by the tube pump and the cooled dilution water supplied by the tube pump to thereby pouring the same into a container such as a paper cup or the like disposed on a tray.
In the described beverage dispenser, the beverage is fixed by making an amount of supply of the dilution water per unit time be constant, and adjusting an amount of supply of the concentrated syrup to be mixed in such a manner that a required amount of the syrup is supplied within substantially the same time duration as that of the time during which the dilution water is supplied. In this case, operation setting of the beverage dispenser can be left unchanged if dilution ratios of any type of concentrated syrup are constant, however, in a case where a replacement of the concentrated syrup with a separate concentrated one having a different dilution ratio is conducted, the supplying amount of the concentrated syrup per unit time or the supplying amount of the dilution water per unit time, or both amounts need to be adjusted each time.
Nevertheless, in a conventional beverage dispenser, a change of the setting of an amount of supply of the concentrated syrup relative to t the dilution water to be supplied per unit time is needed to be performed manually by a user or an administrator (hereinbelow referred to as “user or the like”), which has often been a troublesome work. Further, if the setting of the dilution ratio is incorrect, not only it will affect the taste of the beverage, but also, there has been a problem such that, if the amount of the concentrated syrup is set in a larger quantity than its defined amount, the concentrated syrup will run out before a preliminarily expected number of beverage sales is achieved, which would result in an adverse affect on the profit.